Meaning & Origins

Transferred use of the surname, in origin a patronymic derived from the genitive case of the medieval given name Ote or Ode (of Norman, and ultimately Germanic, origin; compare Odette). In northern England the medieval given name survived into the 19th century. It came to be used as a given name in America in honour of the Revolutionary hero James Otis (1725–83); in modern times it has been bestowed in honour of the American soul singer Otis Redding (1941–67).